Original Persian Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Ḫayāl-i Türk-i çeşm-i to ki ḫūnem-rā kemīn gīred
Nişān-ı ḫancer-i kīneş be-sīne īn kemīn gīred
Be-tīr-endāzī-i çeşmet ḫaṭā hergiz ne-reft ammā
Kemān-ebrūy-ı şūḫet ne-dānem er-çi çīn gīred
Leb-i yāḳūt-ı cān-baḫşet ki ḳūt-ı cevher-i rūḥest
Ḫaṭet mühr-i Süleymān-rā be-zīr-i īn nigīn gīred
Çonīn be’nmāydem k’ey dil be-yümn-i devlet-i derdeş
Ṣadā-yı nevbet-i ‘ışḳem heme rūy-ı zemīn gīred
Be-devr-i çeşm-i mest-i to cihān pür-şūr u ġavġā şod
Kocā künc-i ḳanā‘at-rā dil-i ḫalvet-nişīn gīred
Fedā-yı ġabġabet bādā dil ü cān-ı Münīr-i men
Ki ez-behr-i men-i ḫaste turunc-ı deste-çīn gīred

In English

1. The image of your Turk of an eye lies in ambush to shed my blood; this lowly servant bears on his breast the scar of its dagger of spite. ("Turk" is used in divan poetry in the sense of a blood-shedding, plundering beauty. "Kemīn" has a different meaning in each of the two lines: in the first, ambush; in the second, lowly, humble. Ersoy understands the second line as "this wretch bears in his breast the mark of its dagger of spite".)

2. In the archery of your eye there has never been a miss; but whether the bow of your coquettish brow will wrinkle, I do not know. ("Ḫaṭā" means both a mistake and the land of Khitai (Cathay), "çīn" both a wrinkle, a curl and China.)

3. Your life-giving ruby lip, which is the food of the soul's essence, and your facial down bring the seal of Solomon beneath this ring stone. ("Nigīn" is the stone of a ring; the ruby-red lip is likened to a ring stone. Ersoy understands it as "your facial down makes the seal of Solomon bow".)

4. O heart, by the good fortune of the felicity of his pain, it so appears to me that the sound of the drums of my love's watch will fill the whole face of the earth. ("Nevbet", in its dictionary sense, is the watch music played at fixed times as a sign of sovereignty.)

5. In the age of your drunken eye the world has filled with tumult and strife; where should the heart that sits in seclusion find the corner of contentment. (In the Vienna manuscript "ferāġat", that is, renunciation, withdrawal, is read instead of "ḳanā‘at"; in the edition some letters of these two words could not be printed.)

6. May the heart and soul of my Münîr be a sacrifice for your chin; for it holds out a hand-picked orange for me, the sick one. ("Ġabġab" is the fullness under the chin, the throat; for its roundness it is likened to a bitter orange. "Deste-çīn", in its dictionary sense, means picked by hand, choice. Ersoy understands it as "it holds out a tray of oranges".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet ghazal (gazel) written in Persian; in the edition it is the sixty-sixth of the Persian ghazals (fg 66). The metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün". The refrain (redif) is the verb "gīred" (holds, takes); in Ersoy's list of refrains the ghazal is given with this refrain. The rhyme is the sound "-īn": kemīn, kemīn, çīn, nigīn, zemīn, ḫalvet-nişīn, deste-çīn. Ersoy counts this ghazal among his examples of kafiye-i müreddefe (rhyme preceded by a long vowel). The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 77a) and Vienna (VY 60b) manuscripts. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built with words taken from the world of war, sovereignty and distant lands. The opening couplet begins with a pun (cinas). Both lines end with the word "kemīn"; in the first it means ambush, in the second lowly. The beloved's eye has lain in ambush like a Turk, ready to shed the lover's blood; and the lover bears on his breast the scar of the eye's dagger of spite. In divan poetry the word "Turk" describes the beloved as beautiful and at the same time merciless and bloodthirsty. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among eye, dagger, ambush and blood.

The second couplet is the most skilful place in the ghazal. The arrow of the eye never misses, but whether the bow of the brow will wrinkle is unknown. Here the word "ḫaṭā" means both a mistake and the land of Khitai, famed for its musk and its beauties, and the word "çīn" means both a wrinkle, a curl and China. Together with the word "Turk" in the opening couplet, the names Turk, Khitai and China form a congruence of images; since the same words are also read in the couplet in their primary senses, this is a double entendre (tevriye). The link among arrow, bow and brow also rests on the likening of the brow to a bow.

The third couplet alludes to the seal of Solomon. It is told that the prophet Solomon ruled over the jinn and the birds by virtue of the seal on his ring. The beloved's ruby-red lip is a ring stone; the facial down brings even Solomon's seal beneath this stone. There is a congruence of images among ruby, ring stone, seal and Solomon. In the fourth couplet the language of sovereignty continues: the sound of the watch music, the sign of sovereignty, fills the whole face of the earth. The pain of love is counted a felicity, and the lover's fame spreads through the world like the watch of a ruler.

In the fifth couplet the age of the drunken eye is likened to a time of turmoil; while the world is full of strife, it is impossible for the secluded heart to find the corner of contentment. The reading "ferāġat" (withdrawal) in the Vienna manuscript gives a meaning in the same direction. The pen-name couplet (mahlas) closes with an unexpected image. The beloved's round chin is likened to an orange held out to the sick lover. The lover is sick, and the chin is held out to him like a healing offering; Ersoy too understands the couplet as the beloved holding out a tray of oranges for the sick lover. The phrase "Münīr-i men", "my Münîr", sets the pen name a little apart from its usual use.

Bibliography

Online sources